God's sovereignty

hey guys. A small miracle just happened today. Well actually two. First my mom had a baby girl which is common, but we don’t realize what a miracle each and every baby is. How God knits every single baby up in it’s mother’s womb and carefully creates them. you know how babies can die from the umbilical cord getting wrapped around their neck? well i just found out that when Sophie’s (my new baby sister) was born her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. but the doctor just pulled it off. if she had somehow pulled it tight when she was in the womb, she would have died. it just goes to show that God was in control and its just a great reminder of God’s sovereignty

Songs that Help you realize who God is

Before the Throne

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea. A great high Priest whose Name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on His hands, My name is written in His heart. I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart.No tongue can bid me thence depart.When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there Who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free.For God the just is satisfiedTo look on Him and pardon meTo look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there the risen Lamb, My perfect spotless righteousness, The great unchangeable I AM, The King of glory and of grace,One with Himself I cannot die.My soul is purchased by His blood, My life is hid with Christ on high, With Christ my Savior and my God! With Christ my Savior and my God!

Beauty for Ashes

beauty for ashes a garment of praise for my heavinessbeauty for ashestake this heart of stone and make it Yours, Yoursi delight myself in the Richest of Fairtrading all that i've had for all that is bettera garment of praise for my heavinessYou are the greatest tasteYou're the richest of fair

I Can only Imagine

I can only imagine what it will be like When I walk by your side I can only imagine what my eyes will see When your face is before me I can only imagine I can only imagine Surrounded by your glory What will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus, Or in awe of you be still? Will I stand in your presence, Or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Halelluja, Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine I can only imagine I can only imagine when that day comes And I find myself standing in the Son I can only imagine when all I will do Is forever, forever worship you I can only imagine I can only imagine

God of Wonders

Lord of all creation,
of water, earth and sky.
The heavens are your Tabernacle.
Glory to the Lord on high!
God of wonders beyond our galaxy,
you are holy, holy.
The universe declares your majesty,
you are holy, holy.
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning,I will celebrate the light. When i stumble in the darkness, I will call your name by night God of wonders beyond our galaxy,you are holy, holy.The universe declares your majesty,you are holy, holy.Lord of heaven and earthLord of heaven and earthGod of wonders beyond our galaxy,you are holy, holy.Precious Lord, reveal your heart to me,you are holy, holy.The universe declares your majesty,you are holy, holy.

Indescribable

From the highest of heights to the depths of the seaCreation's revealing Your majestyFrom the colors of fall to the fragrance of springEvery creature unique in the song that it singsAll exclaiming Indescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing GodAll powerful, untamable, Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaimYou are amazing God Who has told every lightning bolt where it should goOr seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night None can fathomIndescribable, uncontainable, You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name You are amazing God All powerful, untamable, Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim You are amazing God You are amazing God Indescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.You are amazing God All powerful, untamable, Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim You are amazing God Indescribable, uncontainable, You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing God Incomparable, unchangeable You see the depths of my heart and You love me the sameYou are amazing God You are amazing God

Random quotes

What God does is not just an abstract thought.
-Pastor Matthew

Most people are worried about others thinking to little of them. We should be worried about others thinking too much of us.
-Pastor Matthew

Taking credit for what God has done is cosmic plagiarism.
-Pastor Matthew

"And what tremendously good news it is that the way to be forgiven our sin and escape God’s wrath is just to rest in his free mercy. What terrible news it would be if John came preaching: Jews can be saved, but not Gentiles. Or: well-to-do people can be saved, but not poor folk. Or: white people can be saved, but not Indians or black people. Or: you can be saved if on the judgment day your good works outweigh your bad works. All that would be bad news. But for John the way is open for “all flesh” to have the salvation of God (3:6), because no human distinctive whatsoever is a precondition of God’s mercy. His mercy runs ahead of all our efforts and seizes us before we know it. And the good news is: just rest in this mercy and you will be saved."
-John Piper

"You can't commend what you don't cherish."
-Unknown

"The wisdom of God made a way for the love of God to satisfy the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God."
-John Piper

Press on, shine bright, and serve wholeheartedly.
-Taylor Ivester

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he can never loose.”
-Jim Elliott

“If you pray Scripture, you are sure to pray the will of God.”
-Mrs. Zandstra

“You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.”
-St. Augustine

“The steps that follow afterward have less courage than the first.”
-Esther Shephard

“Beauty from ashes is more captivating than the unspoiled and untouched celestial bodies, for God uses the broken to manifest his glory.”
-Esther Shephard

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate its that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be talented, gorgeous, and successful?’ The real question should be, ‘Who am I not to be?’
-quote from Akeelah and the Bee

“Glory be to the for the Glory I have not tasted yet.”
-Charles Spurgeon

“Satan’s only attack is to undermine God’s priorities.”
-Pastor Matthew

“A true child of God, yet he might fall foully, yet could never finally fall.”
--George Whitefield

“Lord I want you to be what you reveal yourself to be.”
-Pastor Matthew

“When the clay was on the wheel, the father saw it all.”
-Charles Spurgeon

“I believe the reason many worship songs ring true I worshipers is because God has put songs in us already. When you hear a song that makes you say, ‘that is what I want to say,’ that was a song already in your heart from God. God has interjected songs in the hearts of his people and He’s working to draw those songs and expressions out of His people.”
-Steve Fee

“His strength is perfect when our strength is gone; he’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.”
-unknown

“A heart that trembles at God’s word is very precious in God’s eyes.”
-Pastor Matthew

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but the moments that take our breath away.”
-unknown

“Some say He hates what is unholy, but he loves us and we are unholy. Instead we should say: he hates sin.”
Hannah Middleton

“When we cry out to God, He hears us, but not always when or how we want it.”
-Pastor Matthew

“Biblical worship is centering our hearts affection and our minds attention.”
-Pastor Mathew

“Satan can only make people who aren’t cleaned by God sin. He does this by placing in their hearts a desire to do something that they already want to do.”
-Chad Barnes

“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away-it is his sovereign right-blessed be his name.”
-Pastor Matthew

“Prayer is not asking for what I want but for what God wants in my life.”
-Pastor Matthew

“It’s hard to stumble when you’re on your knees.”
-unknown

Intelligence is the ability to learn facts and skills and apply them. Wisdom is the ability to make sensible decisions and judgments based on personal knowledge and experience. Few men are intelligent, but fewer men are truly wise and still fewer have both wisdom and intelligence.
-Hannah Middleton

What "I love Jesus means"

I admire Jesus Christ more than any other human or angelic being.

I enjoy his ways and his words more than I enjoy the ways and words of anyone else.

I want his approval more than I want the approval of anyone else.

I want to be with him more than I want to be with anyone else.

I feel more grateful to him for what he has done for me than I do to anyone else.

I trust his words more fully than I trust what anyone else says.

I am more glad in his exaltation than in the exaltation of anyone else, including me.

-John Piper

C.S. Lewis quotes that greatly encourage me.

“You will never know how much you believe something until it is a matter of life and death.” “If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.”

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

“What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what kind of a person you are.”

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained”

God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain”

“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan”

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind”

Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.